Column Bioleaching of Refractory Gold Ores

Refractory sulfide ores are ubiquitous resources of gold around the world. It was demonstrated that biooxidation pretreatment of refractory whole ores could be conducted in heaps. The effectiveness of column biooxidation of off-balance gold ores from Bakyrchik and Bolshevik deposits (northeast Kazakhstan) containing pyrite and arsenopyrite was examined in the laboratory. Bakyrchick ore contained 1.5% of pyrite, 3% of arsenopyrite and 4.5 g/t of gold. Bolshevik ore contained 1% of pyrite, 1% of arsenopyrite and 10.7 g/t of gold. The recovery rates of gold from the Bakyrchik and Bolshevik ores by direct cyanidation were 4.5% and 8.2%, respectively. Representative samples of each ore were processed in air-lift percolators. A bioleaching experiment was performed in duplicate. The enrichment culture was obtained from the pyrite flotation wastes and used as an inoculum. Bioleaching was conducted for 60 days at ambient temperature (20-25°C). The recovery rates of gold from the bioleaching residues of Bakyrchik and Bolshevik ores by cyanidation were 21.0% and 48.5%, respectively. The results obtained in the present work may be used to estimate perspectives of heap bio-oxidation for the recovery of gold from these sulfide ores.